September is here and that means it’s time for the Utah Prepare Conference. Located at the Sandy Expo Center, this conference is a nice stop as it is hosted by the USU Extension, and Be Ready Utah. Speakers, workshops and vendors will be ready to help discuss all aspects of preparedness.

ALSO: We have a pair of tickets to giveaway, which we will pick from people who share this on facebook or twitter! (Selection on September 16th).

The Utah Prepare Conference and Expo started in 2011, and has gone out of their way to be an easy-access resource for Utah families to learn more about preparedness, and resources that are locally available. It’s a great stop for those completely new, to experienced preppers.

Cooking with Sunlight Solar Cooking Demo – June 26th, 2014

via Mapleton Ready

Cooking with the Sun is easier than you think.

Did you know you can bake, broil, grill, roast, sauté, fry, stir fry and even pressure cook with the Power of the Sun – NO FUEL REQUIRED! It’s so easy and fun that solar cooking isn’t just for emergencies anymore.(more…)

Also, no need to worry about this project funding, as that only took 6 hours. The price is extremely good for titanium, so worth getting in on the early pricing. Ultralight stoves like this and the Folding Firebox are excellent things to keep in your bags, since they can run on scraps compared to a large fire. They help leave far less traces at your campsites, and use much less fuel to get you what you need.

I’ve already kicked for one, and if you don’t already have a folding stove, you really should take the opportunity on this great deal. (more…)

Utah is abundant with wild edible plants, often referred to as weeds in our yard or garden and also more nutritional than what we have in the grocery store. Many of the wild edibles available to us are not native but were brought here by pioneers from Europe and the mediterranean. Of course many of the wild edibles are native to the area as well. The Sego Lily was used by natives for centuries as a staple food and helped save the lives of the pioneers when they came to this state starving in 1848 and 1849. The bulbs they harvested were plentiful and generally larger than we see today. This is likely because the native peoples harvested the plants often and that action helped the plants continue to produce just are caring for our gardens helps our vegetables grow. Now that we leave the native plants alone and don’t know how to use them they often show very little fruit.

Proper foraging is something that we must understand in order to continue to use these plants wisely and for us and the plants to benefit. Learning about these wild edibles and how and when to harvest them will make us better stewards of the land around us and will also prepare us for tough times or simply allow us to live more healthy now. You would be surprised how many things are readily available to us in the wilderness of Utah, even in the desert. Some of the great spring edibles include, Mariposa lily, Yellow bells, Wild onion, Storksbill, Dune Evening primrose, Indian potato, Curly dock, Blue mustard and Wild spinach often known as Lamb’s quarter.

Come learn with Mike Wood from WildUtahEdibles.com and supplement your diet. Learn how to use the plants that grow easily around you and learn what weeds you can throw in your salad. You will be amazed and thrilled by the many edible and indeed delicious plants there are around you.

Our next wild edibles tour is April 26th at 12:00 noon. Exact location and details will be made available through our facebook page closer to the actual date but this tour will be in the Utah desert either in Saratoga Springs or in Eagle Mountain. Bring your friends and bring the family. This is an event you don’t want to miss.

I must limit the size to 40 people so sign up early to reserve a spot. If you must cancel please let me know immediately so I can free up a slot for someone else. If you must cancel please do it as soon as you know you will not be coming to make room for someone else!!

One of my favorite prepper toys over the last couple of years has been my Firebox. A small folding stove made here in Utah by a local businessman. It’s been a wonderfully useful little folding stove, although sadly one of my scouts just lost the two pegs (hey guys, do you sell those individually?).

Now even better news. While small and somewhat light, it hasn’t fit the “ultralight” category that can be really nice. But now there is a new product coming out. Check it, and jump over to kickstarter and pre-order this thing.

Right now my decision is just what level I want to kick it at. If you look they have upgraded packages that include carriers, stable fuel, combos with the 5″ classic version and more. Don’t miss this discounted chance to get an excellent stove.

Our regular readers will remember that last year we reviewed Creek Stuart’s Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag. Today Creek’s latest book, The Unoffical Hunger Games Wilderness Survival Guide is being released and we were lucky enough to receive a review copy just in time for this review. Like Creek’s other book, this one is also full of useful information (see the page sample to the right). Let’s dive in and see what we have in store this time.

Creek uses details from the Hunger Game book series to illustrate specific preparedness concepts, such as specific situations with individual characters like Katniss or Peeta to relate the skills represented in that fictional scenario with a real world survival or wood craft example. I found this to be a fun and engaging approach for someone who is familiar with the books. This approach may have limited impact for someone who has no knowledge of the characters and why that skill was critical to their survival, or even for someone who only watched the first movie. However, given the title and the suspected audience, I think this has the chance to pull non-preppers in and give them their first exposure to these concepts.

I’ve always been interested in Blacksmithing, both as a link to past skills and as a possibly useful prepping skill. Early in 2012 I began looking into how I might be able to start learning this craft.

I quickly found ABANA, the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America. As the organization’s name might imply, most people doing blacksmithing today are doing it as an art or for ornamentation purposes. Through ABANA, I was pointed to our local Utah ABANA chapter, the Bonnevile Forge Council.

This local chapter has meetings on odd numbered months for its members and those interested in learning about the club and blacksmithing. These meetings are often centered around demonstrations of hands on projects. The club members try to make it less intimidating for newcomers who have never heated metal to 2000 degrees before.

I was able to attend the March 2012 meeting and meet many of the club members. I haven’t missed a meeting since. The next meeting for the club will be this coming Saturday in Provo and focuses on teaching forge welding. I hope any of you who are interested will be able to make it out. Please see the meetings link above for details.

If you are not able to make it to the meeting this weekend, the club president is hosting a short class on making flint strikers which will teach several basic blacksmithing skills. This three hour class will take place the evening of Wednesday, May 15, 2013. More information is here.

We recently posted about an all day introductory blacksmithing class taught by the club President and Mark Henderson, both accomplished blacksmiths. I was informed that the class filled up quickly, mainly due to interest from those who heard about the class through this site. I’d like to hear any feedback any attendees have on the class as well as gauge interest in additional introductory classes and other courses of instruction.

If you enjoy listening to preparedness podcasts, be sure to check out the brand new Survival Mom Radio Network. This network features a dozen women hosts covering a variety of topics including family preparedness, essential oils, homesteading, and canning. And I’m one of the hosts! You can listen right on your computer or download the shows to any mp3 player. The shows are available by browsing the Survival Mom Radio site or on iTunes. Go check it out–there is a ton of great information being shared!